Game-board



(No Model.) W. G. HOWELL. GAME BOARD.

No. 505,314. Patented Sept. 19, 1893.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WHITFIELD G. HOWELL, OF HIGHLAND, NEW YORK.

GAME-BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 505,314, dated September 19, 1893..

Application filed June 25, 1892. Serial No. 437,945. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WHITFIELD G. HOWELL,

of Highland, in the county of Ulster and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Game-Boards, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improvement in games and game boards, and has for its object to provide a game board upon which a game may be played with marbles, the game being of a character approximating a game of pool, and the object of the invention is to provide a propulsion mechanism forming a portion'of the board and adapted to receive the ball to be propelled, which mechanism may be directed to any point of the board betweenits sides.

A further object of the invention is to provide the board with a series of holes through which a ball propelled from one end of the board may pass, each of the holes being given a predetermined number, the numbers counting to make up the score of the game.

vide the board upon its under face below the openings therein with a drawer which will extend from side to side, and to provide this drawer with pockets into which the balls will drop after having passed through the holes in the board, the pockets being numbered to correspond to the numbers by which the open-' ings are designated. 1 v

A further object of the invention is to provide deflecting blocks in the vicinity of and among the openings in the board, which will act to render it difficult to place a ball in a predetermined opening and corresponding drawings, forming a part of this specification,

in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views. I

Figure 1 is a plan View of the game board. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section taken practically on the line 2-2 of Fig.1. Fig. 3 is a plan View of the drawer disconnected from the board. g

The board consists of a body or bottom A, surrounded by a marginal flange 11, the flange being quite high at the rear end of the board and at the sides adjacent to that end, as shown in Fig. 2. The bottom or body of the board inclines in direction of its forward end, as shown at a in Fig. 2, to a point near the rear, this point being designated by the line marked a; and from the line a, the body or bottom of the board is inclined upward to a greater or less extent, until it connects with the end flange. The ascending portion of the body is provided with a number of openings 10, which extend through it, and these openings are arranged as fancy maydictate, any

desired number being employed. The open- Another object of the invention is to pro-,

ingsare preferably made round, as in connection with the board balls or marbles are employed, being designated by the numeral 12.

Among the openings 10, deflecting blocks or studs 13, are located upon the upper face of the body; and these deflecting blocks or studs are preferably made of semi-spherical shape, but they may be given other com tours if in practice it is found desirable, and the object of these deflecting blocks is to deflect a ball when shot to enter one of the openings and therefore prevent it from entering a predetermined opening, or any of them, should the ball be not aimed properly, or the angle at which it strikes the deflecting block properly calculated. Like blocks 13, are arranged upon the ascending portion of the board at the sides and end thereof, and these latter blocks back against the flange 11.

The board is supported by front legs 14, rear legs 15 and an intermediate leg 16. All of the legs extend preferably from side to side of the board, and the rear leg 15 and the intermediate leg 16 are placed adistance apart equaling the width of the apertured portion of the board; and between these two legs 15 and 16 adrawer B, is adapted to slide, the said drawer having at its sides ribs 17, which enter the slide-ways 18 in the said legs.

The drawer is divided into a number of compartments 19, and these compartments are so arranged that certain of the apertures or openings in the board will be over certain compartments when the drawer is in place beneath the board; and the compartments are provided with numbers corresponding to the numbers expressed or understood designed to designate the openings in the board above the compartments. In fact, the compartments 19, act as pockets to receive the balls when passed through the openings 10. Thus by taking out the drawer after a player has finished his play the score made in that play may be accurately and conveniently calculated. In the drawings there are no numbers placed upon the pockets or adjacent to the openings, but in practice, if desirable, they may be produced both upon the board and in the pockets of the drawer, or only in the latter.

At each corner of the front end of the board, pockets 20, are formed,in which the marbles or other objects employed in playing the game maybe placed prior to being propelled along the board; and from the inner rear corner ofeach pocket, ordinarily, a guide flange 21, is projected and these guide flanges are carried in opposite directions rearward, and their rear ends are made to connect with the side flanges adjacent to or at the line a, which defines the declining and the inclining portions of the board.

Within the space between the pockets 20, the propulsion mechanism D, is located. This mechanism consists ordinarily of a casing 22, provided with an aperture in its rear end and open at its forward end. In this casing a spring-pressed piston 23,is located, the piston being opposite the open end of the casing, and it extends through the opening in the rear end, terminating in a knob or handle 24:, whereby said piston may be readily manipulated. The casing 22, is pivotally attached "to the board, preferably by means of a pivot pin 25, and by this means the open end of the casing may be directed to the center or to the sides of the board, or to any point intermediate of the center and the sides. The ball to be fired or propelled is placed in front of the casing and the piston is drawn back and when released it strikes the ball and rolls it along the board to the apertured portion thereof; and in order that a ball when placed in front of the casing of the propelling mechanism will automatically follow the movement of its rear open end when the casing is turned upon its pivot, a depression or recess 26 is made in the path of the casing, the depression being, deepest at its outer wall; and the said outer wall of the depression is shaped in accordance with the radius upon which the open end of the casing moves; and in the center of the board, near the ascending portion a thereof, a depression 27, is made, in which a number of balls may be grouped in playing one form of the game, the balls to be scattered and to be directed through the opening 10 by means of a single ball propelled by the piston.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination, with a game board having a series of apertures near one end, of a propelling mechanism pivotally located near the opposite end, and a recess adapted to hold the article to be propelled in engagement with apropelling mechanism, one wall of which recess is shaped to correspond practically to the radius upon which the propelling mechanism moves, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, with a game board inclined upward from a point near its center in direction of one end and provided with a series of openings in front of the lower portion of the incline, a depression or pocket in rear of the openings, and guide partitions located upon the board and leading from the end opposite to that containing the apertures to the sides of the apertured portion, the partitions diverging at their front and converging at their rear ends, of a propelling mechanism located between the guide partitions and at adistance from said partitions, whereby the articles to be shot into the openings may be collectively placed in the depression in rear of the openings and acted upon by the single articles shot from the propelling mechanism, or whereby each article may be propelled directly from the propelling mechanism individually, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a game board provided with apertures near one end, and baffle blocks or projections arranged adjacent to the apertures upon the board, of a propelling mechanism pivotally located in front of the apertured portion of the board, the propelling mechanism having produced in front of it in the board a recess deepest near the wall adjacent to the propelling mechanism, said wall conforming to the path in which the propelling end of the propelling mechanism is adapted to travel, as and for the purpose specified.

l. The combination, with a game board provided with a series of apertures near one end and pockets removably placed beneath the apertures, the board being also provided with a depression in its upper surface in front of its apertured portion, of a propelling mechanism pivotally located in front of the depression and the apertured portion of the board, and a recess produced in front of the inner end of the propelling mechanism, the bottom wall of the recess being inclined outwardly and downwardly, and the outer or end wall of the recess being curved, as and for the purpose set forth.

5. A game board provided with a curved or segmental recess, the bottom of which is projected piston mounted in the casing, substantially as set forth.

WHITFIELD G. HOWELL.

Witnesses:

ALBERT N. BALDWIN, ROBERT R. MoOHEsNEY. 

